Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem
With Arctic ground as a huge and temperature-sensitive carbon reservoir, maintaining low ground temperatures and frozen conditions to prevent further carbon emissions that contrib-ute to global climate warming is a key element in humankind’s fight to maintain habitable con-ditions on earth. Former s...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:58368 2024-03-24T08:59:16+00:00 Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem Windirsch-Woiwode, T Grosse, Guido Habeck, J Otto Strauss, Jens 2024 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58368/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58368/1/windirsch-woiwode_diss.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49eab6ee-bcc4-47ac-9ef6-aa3183f0b494 unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58368/1/windirsch-woiwode_diss.pdf Windirsch-Woiwode, T. orcid:0000-0002-4292-6931 (2024) Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem / G. Grosse , J. Habeck and J. Strauss (editors) PhD thesis, doi:10.25932/publishup-62424 <https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-62424> , hdl:10013/epic.49eab6ee-bcc4-47ac-9ef6-aa3183f0b494 EPIC3 Thesis notRev 2024 ftawi https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-62424 2024-02-27T09:55:26Z With Arctic ground as a huge and temperature-sensitive carbon reservoir, maintaining low ground temperatures and frozen conditions to prevent further carbon emissions that contrib-ute to global climate warming is a key element in humankind’s fight to maintain habitable con-ditions on earth. Former studies showed that during the late Pleistocene, Arctic ground condi-tions were generally colder and more stable as the result of an ecosystem dominated by large herbivorous mammals and vast extents of graminoid vegetation – the mammoth steppe. Characterised by high plant productivity (grassland) and low ground insulation due to animal-caused compression and removal of snow, this ecosystem enabled deep permafrost aggrad-ation. Now, with tundra and shrub vegetation common in the terrestrial Arctic, these effects are not in place anymore. However, it appears to be possible to recreate this ecosystem local-ly by artificially increasing animal numbers, and hence keep Arctic ground cold to reduce or-ganic matter decomposition and carbon release into the atmosphere. By measuring thaw depth, total organic carbon and total nitrogen content, stable carbon iso-tope ratio, radiocarbon age, n-alkane and alcohol characteristics and assessing dominant vegetation types along grazing intensity transects in two contrasting Arctic areas, it was found that recreating conditions locally, similar to the mammoth steppe, seems to be possible. For permafrost-affected soil, it was shown that intensive grazing in direct comparison to non-grazed areas reduces active layer depth and leads to higher TOC contents in the active layer soil. For soil only frozen on top in winter, an increase of TOC with grazing intensity could not be found, most likely because of confounding factors such as vertical water and carbon movement, which is not possible with an impermeable layer in permafrost. In both areas, high animal activity led to a vegetation transformation towards species-poor graminoid-dominated landscapes with less shrubs. Lipid biomarker analysis ... Thesis Arctic permafrost Tundra Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Arctic |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
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ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
With Arctic ground as a huge and temperature-sensitive carbon reservoir, maintaining low ground temperatures and frozen conditions to prevent further carbon emissions that contrib-ute to global climate warming is a key element in humankind’s fight to maintain habitable con-ditions on earth. Former studies showed that during the late Pleistocene, Arctic ground condi-tions were generally colder and more stable as the result of an ecosystem dominated by large herbivorous mammals and vast extents of graminoid vegetation – the mammoth steppe. Characterised by high plant productivity (grassland) and low ground insulation due to animal-caused compression and removal of snow, this ecosystem enabled deep permafrost aggrad-ation. Now, with tundra and shrub vegetation common in the terrestrial Arctic, these effects are not in place anymore. However, it appears to be possible to recreate this ecosystem local-ly by artificially increasing animal numbers, and hence keep Arctic ground cold to reduce or-ganic matter decomposition and carbon release into the atmosphere. By measuring thaw depth, total organic carbon and total nitrogen content, stable carbon iso-tope ratio, radiocarbon age, n-alkane and alcohol characteristics and assessing dominant vegetation types along grazing intensity transects in two contrasting Arctic areas, it was found that recreating conditions locally, similar to the mammoth steppe, seems to be possible. For permafrost-affected soil, it was shown that intensive grazing in direct comparison to non-grazed areas reduces active layer depth and leads to higher TOC contents in the active layer soil. For soil only frozen on top in winter, an increase of TOC with grazing intensity could not be found, most likely because of confounding factors such as vertical water and carbon movement, which is not possible with an impermeable layer in permafrost. In both areas, high animal activity led to a vegetation transformation towards species-poor graminoid-dominated landscapes with less shrubs. Lipid biomarker analysis ... |
author2 |
Grosse, Guido Habeck, J Otto Strauss, Jens |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Windirsch-Woiwode, T |
spellingShingle |
Windirsch-Woiwode, T Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
author_facet |
Windirsch-Woiwode, T |
author_sort |
Windirsch-Woiwode, T |
title |
Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
title_short |
Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
title_full |
Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
title_sort |
permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58368/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58368/1/windirsch-woiwode_diss.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.49eab6ee-bcc4-47ac-9ef6-aa3183f0b494 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic permafrost Tundra |
op_source |
EPIC3 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58368/1/windirsch-woiwode_diss.pdf Windirsch-Woiwode, T. orcid:0000-0002-4292-6931 (2024) Permafrost carbon stabilisation by recreating a herbivore-driven ecosystem / G. Grosse , J. Habeck and J. Strauss (editors) PhD thesis, doi:10.25932/publishup-62424 <https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-62424> , hdl:10013/epic.49eab6ee-bcc4-47ac-9ef6-aa3183f0b494 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-62424 |
_version_ |
1794399025760305152 |